Radiohead's gig in the mud voted best ever: What a load of arse! (Radioarse?). In order to be voted the best gig, it has to receive the most votes (Duh!) so that means only the really BIG gigs stand a chance in this poll. Absolutely pointless.

Tuesday, 27 April 2004

Hughes & Kettner Introduces Warp X Head: Representing the flagship model in the company's Warp lineup, the new Warp-X is a two channel, all-tube guitar head designed for dropped-D tuning and other heavy playing styles.

Living Loud live at last: Living Loud have played their first gig ever, in Melbourne at the Metro. The supergroup featuring members of Cold Chisel, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Ozzy Osbourne and Rainbow, is Jimmy Barnes, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Steve Morse and Don Airey.

Monday, 26 April 2004

Here's a couple of photos I took this weekend:
It was a fantastic couple of gigs from The Damned at Knaresborough in Yorkshire this weekend. On Sunday, the group, obviously in high spirits, strayed from their set list and played a few super cool cover versions such as The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg pop" and a blistering version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".
Definitely one of the best live bands on the circuit in the UK at the moment. Catch them if you get the chance.

Saturday, 24 April 2004

Happy Birthday to Captain Sensible of The Damned who is celebrating his 50th today. The Captain, who is a very much under-rated guitarist and musician, will be celebrating all weekend with The Damned and their fans in Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. Which is where I'm just off to now; I have a five hour train journey to get there! Looking forward to the celebrations, and much drunkeness and chaos no doubt!

Wednesday, 21 April 2004

Tuesday, 20 April 2004

Metasonix Unleashes the TX-1 Agonizer: The latest design from Metasonix defies categorization, but its goal is simple - to destroy your sound. The all-analog TX-1 Agonizer features a vacuum tube that originally found its place in 1960s televisions, and has no real place in the audio world. (Check out the dodgy graphics on the casing).

Guitar nipple blues for musicians: Making music can be bad for the skin, causing "guitar nipple", "fiddler's neck" and other disorders, said a study. Some guitarists suffer guitar nipple, otherwise known as irritant mastitis.

Well, if do insist on wearing your guitar or bass high up on your chest like Mark King from Level 42, then what do you expect? Sling 'em low, like the Ramones, is what I say.

Incidentally, I'm trying to find a CD of one of his albums, "Can't Stand Noise". I used to have it on cassette (no idea what became of that) and I'd really like to listen to it again as it was a favourite of mine. Please drop me a line if you can help.

Gipsy Kings hope to reclaim gypsy name: Folk band the Gipsy Kings have said they want to "reclaim" the word gypsy to turn it into something positive, amid negative publicity in the current political climate.

Friday, 16 April 2004

Fernandes Guitars have updated and re-designed their website. It's now all Flash driven which is ghastly. Is anyone seriously impressed by Flash websites anymore? They are just so slow. But more to the point, it looks like they have discontinued some of their guitars, such as the Native series. I was seriously considering buying a Native Pro or Elite at one point. I even enquired if they were going to make a production model of the mirror-fronted Native Elite as used by Daniel Ash. (They said "No". Boo! Hiss!)

Wednesday, 14 April 2004

London Guitar Show 2004: I don't know if it's going to be safe for me to go this year. I went to last year's and ended up spending far too much money, especially seeing as I only went in order to write a report for this blog.

Ashdown Launch New Bass Amps: New from British manufacturer Ashdown is the AL-ADRP1, a sophisticated bass preamplifier developed for use in professional recording applications, and in conjunction with the AL-1500D DSP power amplifier in a high-power, rack-based backline bass rig.

Friday, 2 April 2004

Ozzy confirms possible Black Sabbath reunion, although he wouldn't confirm or deny the rumour that ex-Sabbath bassplayer Geezer Butler was once again part of his backing band, explaining he didn't want to be shouted at by wife and manager Sharon.

Avril's guitarist quits her band: another departure! Jesse Colburn, Avril Lavigne's rhythm guitarist and ex-boyfriend, has left her band after two years to pursue other interests. I can't say I blame him; it must be a real drag playing that lifeless dirge.